Two of Menendez’s Senate Colleagues Defend His Character

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Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, testified in federal court in Newark on Thursday on behalf of his colleague, Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey.CreditCreditBryan Anselm for The New York Times

NEWARK — Over 18 days of testimony, prosecutors in Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption trial have portrayed him as greedily accepting stays at luxury hotels and rides on private planes from a wealthy friend who wanted the senator’s help to resolve business disputes. For eight days, the defense has countered that Mr. Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, is a hard-working, honorable public servant who cares about policies and did not cross any legal line to provide personal favors.

On Thursday, the defense team dug deep into its arsenal and put on the stand in Federal District Court here two of Mr. Menendez’s colleagues, Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat and the junior senator from New Jersey, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, in a high-profile, bipartisan appearance that injected some electricity into the slow-moving trial.

The two men had not made the trip from Washington to testify about any specific evidence that is at the heart of the case. Instead, they came to vouch for Mr. Menendez’s character.

“He’s a very honest, trustworthy man in that he keeps his word when he gives it, that he tries to get to yes, and that he pushes back against political pressure, which is hard in my business,” Mr. Graham said.

While Mr. Graham’s testimony was generally subdued and matter-of-fact, Mr. Booker was more emotional and, at times, spoke directly to the jury.

“One of the best things about politics for me the last four years is I get to work with Bob Menendez,” Mr. Booker said near the end of his testimony, after which he walked to the defendant’s table and shook Mr. Menendez’s hand.

At the end of Thursday’s court session, Mr. Menendez expressed his gratitude toward the two senators.

“I want to thank my colleagues,’’ he told reporters, “for their extraordinary courage to come and testify in a trial that wasn’t necessarily in their interest to do. I appreciate them coming forth and telling the jury about who I really am.”

In the morning, just before the trial resumed in a fourth-floor courtroom, Mr. Menendez grinned and shook hands with the many supporters who sat behind him. Alongside Mr. Menendez were the team of lawyers defending him and Dr. Solomon Melgen, the senator’s co-defendant. Dr. Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor from Florida, is accused of bribery for bestowing lavish gifts on Mr. Menendez in exchange for the senator’s intervention in disputes. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The courtroom chatter quieted when Mr. Graham, in response to being sworn in, answered “I do” in a Southern accent that had not been heard before during the two-month trial.

“Can you see me over this?” Mr. Graham asked the courtroom, referring to a computer monitor.

At one point, Judge William H. Wells cut the senator off when he began to stray from a question posed by Mr. Menendez’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, about whether he and Mr. Menendez agreed on most issues.

“I’m not here because I agree or disagree with him, I’m here because I know him. Here’s the thing about Bob,” Mr. Graham began, before Judge Wells interjected and told him to stay on topic.

When Mr. Booker took the stand, he mentioned his home in Newark in praising Mr. Menendez.

“I live a couple miles from here in a neighborhood that is very poor, and I don’t care who you are in America, Italian, Irish, Black, Latino, you are not that far from struggle and hurt,” Mr. Booker said. “A lot of us forget where we come from. What I think is honorable about Bob is not because of what he’s done for me. It’s Bob has not forgotten where he comes from.”

Mr. Booker laughed as he told a story about the 2013 day he was sworn in. Mr. Menendez, he said, had to teach him how to cast votes by raising his hand and saying “aye.”

Mr. Graham testified that his friendship with Mr. Menendez had grown over the past eight years during the long hours they spent working on immigration reform legislation and the Iran nuclear arms deal. They also shared a habit of having a late breakfast in the Senate cafeteria. Mr. Graham said he would walk over to chat with Mr. Menendez “almost literally every day.”

Though their friendship did not always cross party lines — in September Mr. Menendez vowed that he would skip a day of his trial if he was needed to vote against a health bill Mr. Graham sponsored that would have replaced the Affordable Care Act — Mr. Graham described his colleague as a person of integrity.

“He’s been somebody you can go to as a Republican, you can go to to find bipartisanship,” Mr. Graham said. “A handshake is all you need from Bob.”

In a brief cross-examination, prosecutors asked both senators the same one question. Had they been inside the courtroom over the past eight weeks to hear the evidence against Mr. Menendez?

Both gave the same answer — no.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Menendez’s Fellow Senators Vouch for Him at His Trial. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe